A Sense Of Place

I took this photo of Simon and Anna (and Lily in her bed) on Tuesday night.

It was about 7pm and Anna had just taken a bath. We put her PJ's on and she kept saying "no night night" so I decided she could stay up a bit longer - long enough to at least go downstairs and say goodnight to Simon.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs she ventured into the living room. I headed towards the kitchen to clean up a few more dishes from dinner.

A few minutes later I looked into the living room and saw that she had pulled her little bench over to the basket of books and was happily perusing her collection. At first I thought it was all part of a "no night-night" stall tactic. It probably was a little of that - but she was quiet and content and just going through her books and that's definitely a really good way to get me to let you stay up longer around here. She was enjoying it and I was feeling flexible.

It wasn't long before Simon joined in and starting looking through the books too.

At that point I raced upstairs to grab my camera, saying a little prayer that they would both be in the same place when I came back down. As you can see, that little prayer must have worked.

As I looked at the photo tonight I was reminded again how I like to take photos that include the surroundings (vs. just a close-up of a face). There's something about the environment and a sense of place that adds so much to the photo - the fireplace cover, a portion of the ottoman, the books all over the floor, the tv, the reflections of the rest of the room in the glass doors, etc. All pieces of our everyday life.

In the future I know I'll love seeing all the different pieces of this photo just like I love seeing photos from when I was a kid that included rooms from our house (and carpet, and furniture, and dishes, etc).

Next time you grab your camera consider including more of your everyday surroundings along with the people you love.

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70 thoughts

  1. noell says…
    02/11/2011

    Love the photo. Isn't that interesting how the small details mean so much later on? I was going through my childhood photos yesterday, preparing for my Y&T project and I found myself studying all of the different carpets and kitchen floors in our different 1970's homes and floors.

    I've also noticed I'm constantly trying to construct the overall layout of the family rooms of the old houses I either don't remember or just barely remember. :)

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  2. abbie says…
    02/11/2011

    Ali, this is such a sweet photo. Glad you were able to capture that particular moment. I love it when my kids flip through (or read) books right before bed. It really brings a sense of peace & calm. Love it.

    I posted about snapping photos of my children from a distance recently as well.

    http://ellieandabbie.typepad.com/bright_eyes_blue_eyes/2011/01/photos-children.html

    Like you said, I really think the surroundings (and extra "daily life stuff") in each of these type of photos will be fun for the children to look back on someday!

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  3. lisa says…
    02/11/2011

    I did a layout like this once. I had some OK pictures of my husband standing in our messy living room. But as I looked at it so many little things started jumping out at me. I started labelling them and writing them down and ended up with a page called "25 pieces of us."

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      02/11/2011

      Love that title.

  4. dawn says…
    02/11/2011

    This is a sweet photo and sweeter story. I love capturing the everyday things around the house in some of my pictures.

    Funny that you had to go upstairs to get your camera, I picture you having it by your side all the time because you always get the little moments. Since doing a week in the life with you my camera is usually in my pocket or right beside me at all times so that I won't miss a sweet moment. Thanks for sharing and happy weekend.

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  5. Megan says…
    02/11/2011

    Reading has always been the great flexor in our family. The only thing we would ever bend a rule for...and it worked. :) Love the photo.

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Nicky from Canada says…
    02/11/2011

    I love this and especially the connection to books also.
    Absolutely heart warming

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Chris H says…
    02/11/2011

    Fantastic!!! And how lucky you got to capture it!
    I wasn't so lucky the other day when I attempted a hindquarters-only-while-I-shoved-myself-3/4-under-the couch shot of the jack russell. We have to be sneaky about the camera and hope a little divine hand keeps the subjects in their places!

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  8. rhonda says…
    02/11/2011

    Beautiful family, beautiful moment and totally let my daughter stay up past bedtime when it involved a book too! Have a wonderful weekend Edwards family!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Crystal says…
    02/11/2011

    I just came in from capturing one of those "hold it till I get back" moments! We have had so much snow and my husband has spent many hours with the snowblower this winter but they've mostly been at night. I haven't gotten a picture - but today it happened. So happy about that! Thank for your reminder to capture bigger - the snowdrifts gave perspective to the size of the little lawn tractor! Happy Weekending!

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Gabi says…
    02/11/2011

    Such a precious capture, Ali! Beautiful photo and memory. Have a wonderful weekend!

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Kay Gregory-Clark says…
    02/11/2011

    Ali, what a good point—to show pieces of life in the photo. My tendency is opposite: focus as tightly as possible on subject at hand, cropping out extraneous stuff. But like you, I love looking at old pictures from my childhood and seeing the things that bring back memories. I need to expand my focus!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Lori says…
    02/11/2011

    Really sweet moment you captured :) I noticed scrapbookpictures.com has their 12x12 at $1.25/each thru the month of February. Just thought I would pass this along as I saw it when I was uploading pictures yesterday - you had posted Persnickety Prints recent sale which was a bit more at $1.99 I always love it when they run these sales. I have a bunch of 12x12 scrapbook pages to order!

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  13. Lori says…
    02/11/2011

    One more thing - I love your new digital evidence paper pack and linen tags. really cool! just ordere those since the 30% off sale is going on :)

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      02/11/2011

      Thanks Lori!

  14. Tanya Watson says…
    02/11/2011

    I love photos like this, when i want them of my son I have to go away from him to turn the camera on because if he hears it the moment is lost lol (hes 3 years old) and he hates photos been taken at the moment, but i did get a lovely one yesterday of him standing in the doorway of our french doors in the lviing room out to our back deck when it was pouring down with rain and he was just standing there taking it all in...lovely photos is the result....and yes like you Ali i like seeing all the stuff around as well in the photos :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. Sarah says…
    02/11/2011

    That is a really sweet moment captured of them together. Well done, Mom!

    So often, I purposely try NOT to capture the complete chaos (of toys everywhere) in the background of my shots. I guess this is a good way to look at it though. It is a look at our lives right now. And someday, we'll hopefully be able to claim our living room as an adult space again.

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  16. Raylene says…
    02/11/2011

    I have been a close-up lover, but since you mentioned the background and how it shows more of our lives, I have been taking a closer look at OLD photos . . . and REALLY appreciating the backgrounds. OMG! The ugly furniture! the ostentatious lamps! What great fun!

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. madeline St onge says…
    02/11/2011

    Well that is just precious, I would have let them both stay up all night LOL

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Jen D says…
    02/11/2011

    I love that photo- you're so right! I recently found an old picture of my room growing up as a kid, and I stared at every inch of that photo. I had never seen it before, and I had forgotten so many things in that room. Such a great reminder!

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. Brooke says…
    02/11/2011

    That is a very cute photo. I love the idea of including a little bit of the surroundings in photos too - just like you I love to look back on photos like this of my childhood. The first ever photo I have of my Nan and I - I was screaming my lungs out, she was in her nightgown and in the background were a heap of messy boxes. I love that I'm not the only one with messy boxes around!

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  20. Heather says…
    02/11/2011

    I just finished a layout too. It features some pictures my Grandma took of my messy room when I was about 12 or so. They were supposed to be the "before" shots... she never did get to take any "after" shots! LOL Anyway, when I started writing about those photos I noticed all the STUFF in there (hard to ignore! lol) and it just developed into this long list of what I saw in the photo, and sometimes there was a story behind some piece or another. At the end I had to admit that I wish I had MORE pictures of my messy child room and the things that are long since gone!

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  21. Maureen says…
    02/11/2011

    This one really touched me Ali and takes me back to the days when my adult sons were so small. Those photos of life back in England DO make me think or say...remember the green walls? the heavy heavy drapes that still let the wind in? your Dad's 70s mustache? I need to find some of those photos! perfect for Y&T.

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  22. Beth Kohl says…
    02/11/2011

    This is great black and white - sometimes all the color takes away from it all. Love your dog on his bed in the background. I get so involved w/ my kids that I forget to take pictures of my pets at times. Your dog looks like he was just sitting there listening to their stories. :)

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  23. Kimberly says…
    02/11/2011

    Amazing photo. looks so peaceful, calm, happy.

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  24. Melanie says…
    02/12/2011

    Hi Ali, great photo & I love the story. Did you take this picture in black & white, or did you edit it after?
    thanks for sharing!

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. Sue says…
    02/12/2011

    Love this picture. Ever since I start this amazing hobby-passion, I just couldn't being myself to cut up photos because I just loved everything in the picture. So way too many pages in my albums but I don't regret it. To me its all the bits of life that make the memory. Thanks for sharing Ali.

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